Rite and Reason: He refused to legalise divorce, but the relationship between WT Cosgrave and the Catholic hierarchy was an uneasy one, writes Anthony Jordan
WT Cosgrave (1880-1965), leader of the new Irish Free State during the turbulent years from 1922 to 1932, worked with the majority Catholic Church, but the relationship was never an easy one. His governments received backing from the Protestant community, which he made clear had a future in the new State. He nominated many of its leaders to the Senate and facilitated the establishment of the National War Memorial at Islandbridge.
Cosgrave, like many of his generation, was a devout and conservative Catholic.
When he and Major John MacBride were sentenced to death at Richmond Barracks at Easter 1916, their main concern was to ensure the availability of Catholic rites for prisoners at Kilmainham Gaol.
Later, Cosgrave was willing to be advised by that church in matters he believed were within its competence, but he was clear that matters of State were the responsibility of politicians.
Despite securing the condemnation and excommunication of those in arms against the government, Cosgrave refused repeated requests from his close friend, Archbishop Byrne of Dublin, to moderate the unyielding stance of the government.
Where the security of the State was concerned during the bitter civil war years, he would not budge.
The Archbishop wanted the release from hunger strike in Mountjoy Jail of Ms Mary MacSweeney in November, 1922.
Cosgrave refused this, writing to the Archbishop: "If she persists in her present indefensible attitude until death, we may regret it, but she will do so of her own volition. We are at a crisis in the history of our beloved country when we, as the Government of Ireland, directly responsible to the Irish people for our administration of their affairs and for the very security of their Nation".
In October 1923, a general hunger strike was in progress when the Archbishop again made representations. Cosgrave replied in even more trenchant terms.
He wrote: "We had this matter of the hunger strikes under consideration during the week and definitely came to the conclusion that we could not give way on it. This view is so definitely formed in our minds that I believe each minister would prefer to leave public life altogether than to yield . . . Government in this country will have an impossible task if the weapon of hunger strike is to be regarded as proof against the laws of State".
He gave short shrift that same year to the papal legate, Monsignor Luzio, who arrived in Ireland on a peace mission, demanding his recall to the Vatican.
When all government ministers were under threat of assassination in 1922, Cosgrave wrote a remarkable testament, saying: " . . . I willingly forgive those who think I should be shot, and those who take part in such shooting and I ask forgiveness of all those I have offended . . ."
He received a memorandum on Catholic Teaching on Marriage from Archbishop Byrne in 1923 and later refused to legalise divorce. He regulated films and books and forbade propaganda on the use of contraceptives. He got permission for the use of an oratory in his private house and promoted the appointment of a papal nuncio despite grave misgivings among the hierarchy.
In the late 1920s, when the government feared a communist threat from organisations like Saor Éire, it again lobbied the hierarchy to issue pastoral letters of condemnation. The bishops duly complied, but in a manner that disappointed the government. However, at that point the hierarchy realised that a change of government might be soon forthcoming and wanted to keep its options open.
During Cosgrave's final years in office, county councillors in Mayo refused to agree the appointment of a Protestant lady as librarian in Castlebar.
The future Cardinal d'Alton and Archbishop Gilmartin of Tuam backed their action.
Political realities forced Cosgrave into a retreat on the issue, as de Valera, whom Cosgrave described as a "magician of political metaphysics", made political capital of the matter.
However, bolstered by his cabinet colleagues, he stood firm against pressure from the hierarchy on the wider issue of denying Protestant doctors the right to public appointments. He wrote to Cardinal MacRory, noting how smoothly Church and State worked together. He said that it would be helpful if the church approached the State directly without first going public on matters of concern.
However, he felt confident that the bishops "appreciate the effective limits to the power of the government which exist in relation to certain matters, if some of the most fundamental principles on which the State is founded are not to be repudiated. Such repudiation, direct or indirect, by an Irish government would, we are convinced, entail consequences very detrimental to the country's welfare".
The celebration of the centenary of Catholic Emancipation in 1929 was a triumphal occasion in the State, and the Eucharistic Congress of 1932 should have been the pinnacle of Cosgrave's relationship with the church, but it was not to be. By then, de Valera was taoiseach.
Anthony J Jordan's biography WT Cosgrave 1880-1965: Founder of Modern Ireland was published last week by Westport Books. E-mail: westportbooks@yahoo.co.uk